Killian: You’re pushing my limits

Me: I’m not pushing anything. We’ve said what we need to say

Killian: No, we haven’t. Not by a long shot

I avoided the rest of Killian’s calls and texts. I dodged most of them successfully and answered with one word replies when he demanded a response. I sat at my desk, freaking out about the developments going on behind the door. The frantic text message I’d gotten the night after the gala had me up and out of Killian’s bed in a flash. Rhys needed help and I needed to try to fix what I’d broken.

Rhys was out, but he’d been in and out today, every time looking more and more upset. I bit my nails down as far as they would go. Until I tasted the coppery blood in my mouth. I never bit my nails, but I kept hearing Killian’s name thrown around and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should confess or try to wait it out. I hadn’t been able to do anything to help him. If anything, I’d probably been so distracted with everything going on with Killian that I somehow made it worse. I wanted to lay my head down on my desk and cry. Better yet, crawl under it and never come out.

The phone on my desk rang and I picked it up.

“I am not this guy, Rachel,” came Killian’s voice in a growl. I glanced at the phone, making sure I wasn’t hallucinating. My heart rate increased and I felt the blood pounding in my head.

“What are you doing calling here?”

“I’m calling you here because you’re refusing to answer my calls and texts. I’m not a stalker, Rachel. I don’t chase after women, but you’ve got me chasing after you.”

“I didn’t ask you to chase me, Killian. I thought my responses spoke for themselves.”

“They didn’t, but you’re going to have to,” he said, hanging up. Immediately, my heart was racing. I hung up the phone in a daze. What did that mean? I sat there, trying to gather my bearings as the elevator dinged. The doors opened and out stepped the man who made my heart stop, but for now it was for all the wrong reasons. The scowl he wore froze me solid. I couldn’t move. I sat at my desk and stared at him, my eyes wide, until he stood next to my desk, glaring at me.

Other people in the office walked by, skittering around Killian. It seemed that everyone had been able to see what I should have known from the moment I saw him. He wasn’t a man to mess with. He was a man to run the other way from.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered.

“I think we should take this somewhere private before everyone here knows just what you’ve been up to after hours,” he said and my stomach turned. I wrapped my arms around myself and avoided the glances from people passing by. There seemed to be a hell of a lot more people walking by since Killian arrived.

I stood and ushered him into Rhys’s office. Rhys had been out for most of the day, so we’d be away from everyone else in there. I closed the door behind me, leaving my hand on the cold metal doorknob, before taking a deep breath and turning to face Killian.

“What are you doing here?”

* * *

“I came to tell your boss it’s all over. He’s not going to get away with everything he has for so long. There’s nowhere else for him to hide.”

“Don’t do this, Killian. Whatever vendetta you have against Rhys, why can’t you just put it behind you? Let it go. What could possibly be so important that you’d work to destroy a man who’s only done great things in the world?” She didn’t get it. Her loyalty would always be to him. He was the shining knight and I was the big bad wolf. I hated how much that hurt. Then again, how had we met?

I needed to keep reminding myself. My blood boiled that she thought Rhys was some saint. I’d transferred more than enough money into Melanie’s bank account to raise some red flags there. We’d see how he felt once I took her away from him too. I knew how he’d react once he knew it was there. Of course, he was having her monitored because that was the kind of guy he was.

“The only reason he does all this,” I said, waving to every award, plaque, and dedication ribbon in his office, “is because it serves him. It gets him what he wants, which is the blood money his parents made on the backs of the little people they crushed along the way.”

“Killian—” she tried to calm me down, but I welcomed the rage. I needed this. I needed to hold onto it. To never forget it. It lived and breathed in me. I couldn’t let the things he and his family had done to other people go unavenged. Like my mom. She deserved more. She deserved better.

“His parents put my father in jail. They are the reason he was behind bars all these years. They are the reason my mother killed herself.”

“Oh my god.” She reached for my arm, her eyes wide, but I pulled way. I didn’t need her comfort. I didn’t want her comfort. The revelation hung in the air between us. The room was silent like we were inside a vacuum.

She wrapped her arms around herself, like a chill had just gusted through the office.

“No. I’m doing this. He’s wanted to know what I’ve been up to. That’s why he sent you. Here’s his chance,” I said, trying my best to steel myself against the sadness in her eyes.

“Killian, please don’t do this. You don’t understand all the good he’s able to do,” she said, looking up at me with those big doe eyes.

“I’m going to talk to him and give him a chance to do the right thing. To come clean about all the shit he and his family pulled over the years. To confess that he’s a fraud. All I want to do is talk. I’ll do it here in this office, or out there in front of everyone,” I said.

“Killian, please,” she pleaded, but I wasn’t going to listen. “Don’t!” she shouted.

“Call security, then. Pick up the phone, call them, and make this into a huge scene. It will help me. Play right into my plan. Or you let me talk to him.”

“Killian,” she said, her voice wavering. She was playing a game. Toying with me to get what she wanted. I wasn’t going to be ignored. I wasn’t going to let him take away even more people that I cared about. I’d make the choice for myself. And if she’d choose this over me, him over me, then that was it.

She opened the door to his office just as the elevator doors opened across the small waiting area and Rhys stepped out and smiled, shaking hands with employees that walked by. Rachel took a step back and grabbed for my arm, panic in her eyes. She stepped out of the office and looked left and right, like she might make a break for it. That was fine. She turned around and I slammed the door in her face. Her helpless face with wide eyes, staring at me as she froze. I spread out on the couch because I knew it would fucking eat at him.

It was all a blur. His denial of my murder accusation. Him accusing her of using drugs again. It was lies. She was clean, she told me that. And then, before I knew what was happening I had him by the collar. My restraint gone. Our punches landed solidly, my ears rang as I threw another punch, hitting him in the face.

Rhys pushed me away and I charged at him, the two of us going through his glass desk. Fuck. Small bits of glass sliced into my hands as I pushed myself up off the floor.

“I didn’t think you had it in you, Rhys. I thought all that talk about control was just the pussy’s way out of a fight, but look at you. Getting down and dirty with the peasants,” I said, tasting the blood in my mouth.

“You threaten my family, I’ll fucking end you,” he said, seething. His fists clenching and unclenching. I furrowed my brow. I hadn’t threatened his family. What the hell was he talking about?

Rachel burst into the room, her eyes wide with horror and her mouth wide open.

“Oh my God,” she said, her hands covering her mouth. “What did you do?” she shouted at me.

“I told you not to disturb us,” I said, pushing myself up off the floor.

“You just said you wanted to talk. That you had something important to tell him. What the hell, Killian?” she shrieked. And I saw the minute Rhys put it together. His eyebrow quirked up.

“You’re working with him?” Rhys asked, storming over to her. I stiffened as he approached her, but he kept his distance. If he laid a hand on her, it would end right here. “You’ve been reporting on me to him?”

“What? No, please, Mr. Thayer. It’s not like that at all. I would never break your trust like that. I haven’t told him anything about you.” She pleaded with him and it turned my stomach. No one should ever beg him for anything. Should ever have to prove anything to him.

“You’re done! Leave!” he shouted. Tears formed in her eyes. “And get the fuck out of my office,” he roared at me. I smirked.

“Gladly,” I said, bowing to him. Rachel walked toward me and I reached out to touch her arm, but she flinched away.

“You know where to find me,” I said to her before striding out the door. She’d get over it. She didn’t need this job. She’d come to me. I knew she would.